Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) Price Target Raised to $41.00 at Barclays

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) had its price objective lifted by Barclays from $40.00 to $41.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on JNPR. Morgan Stanley raised Juniper Networks from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a hold rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a hold rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating for the company. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a sector weight rating on shares of Juniper Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $34.55.

Juniper Networks Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE JNPR opened at $34.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a PE ratio of 50.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.78. Juniper Networks has a 12-month low of $24.87 and a 12-month high of $38.04.

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The network equipment provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Juniper Networks had a net margin of 4.19% and a return on equity of 10.07%. As a group, analysts expect that Juniper Networks will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Juniper Networks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Juniper Networks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 127.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Juniper Networks news, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total transaction of $3,645,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,726,308. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Juniper Networks news, SVP Robert Mobassaly sold 5,173 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.78, for a total transaction of $190,262.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 36,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,323.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Manoj Leelanivas sold 98,530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $3,645,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 73,684 shares in the company, valued at $2,726,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 216,302 shares of company stock worth $8,005,602. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,576 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,075 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Juniper Networks by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 4,968 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. 91.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Juniper Networks Company Profile

Juniper Networks, Inc designs, develops, and sells network products and services worldwide. The company offers routing products, such as ACX series universal access routers to deploy high-bandwidth services; MX series Ethernet routers that function as a universal edge platform; PTX series packet transport routers; wide-area network SDN controllers; and session smart routers.